MSD

It's official, as of last Wednesday's International Food Festival, my quesadillas have won an actual first-place award with a cash prize.

I like minimalist recipes. The big benefits of only having a few ingredients are that it's easy to replicate and that it's easy to scale up or down. This will make around 18 quesadillas, serving 4-5 people.

The only controversy is whether they're technically quesadillas. They're not your typical quesadillas with ingredients put in a folded-over tortilla and fried/pressed, but there isn't enchilada sauce, so I can't call them that. I developed this loosely based on an enchilada recipe, but I maintain that they're quesadillas. You can decide for yourself.

-Large frying pan that will hold all of the chicken
-Baking pan (I think mine is 13" x 9")

-4lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
-3lbs shredded cheddar cheese
-16oz salsa
-20 8" tortilla shells
-Olive oil
-4 cans beer, chilled (optional)


-Put one rack in the middle of the oven and one the second notch down from the top (I tried on the top notch once and the quesadillas caught fire.) Preheat to 300° for the baking at the end. I usually start preheating about half way through the stovetop cooking step.

-Carefully but quickly pour one beer into the chef.

-Rinse the chicken breasts, then trim off excess fat and gross parts.

-Cut all of the chicken into bit-sized pieces and put it in the pan with a teaspoon or two of olive oil. Cook it completely so it's white but not getting crispy or browned.

-While cooking the chicken, gradually add one beer to the chef.

-When the chicken is cooked, pour off a bit less than half of the liquid from the pan.

-Turn the stove to low until the liquid left in the pan starts to simmer.

-Slowly begin to add cheese, stirring frequently so it melts into the fat/water left in the pan. I typically end up with about two pounds of cheese in there, but you may want to use more or less to taste. Make sure you have some cheese left over to sprinkle over the top for the baking step.

-When the cheese has formed what can be loosely described as cheese sauce, add the whole 16oz jar of salsa. Stir it in until and cook until the whole mixture is hot.

-Pour 1 whole beer into the chef.

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Part two
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-Stack up your tortillas on a plate next to the stove and trim them so that when they're rolled, you can fit two end-to-end across the long side of the pan.

-Use a spoon, spatula, flipper, or whatever, to transfer chicken to a tortilla, roll it tightly, and place it in the pan. Repeat until you have two rows of quesadillas and a full pan. Make sure to leave some of the cheese sauce in the pan.

-Spread what's left of the cheese sauce from the pan over the quesadillas in the pan almost out to the edges.

-Bake on the middle rack at 300° for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to crisp.

-When the edges are a bit crispy, pull out the rack and sprinkle a generous layer of shredded cheese on top. Transfer it to the upper rack and turn the oven to broil. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese is just starting to get crispy. This is where I screwed up by using the top rack instead of second-to-top and dinner caught fire once, so watch them carefully.

-Victory beer!

-Serve hot (with beer.)